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Logistics Deals

Logistics investments are proving increasingly popular among
sovereign wealth funds as the boom in online shopping drives
demand for delivery hubs in developed and emerging markets.
On Wednesday, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the
arm of the central bank that manages Norway's $870 billion
sovereign wealth fund, Government Pension Fund Global,
announced it bought a 50 percent stake in a portfolio of
European logistics properties from San Francisco-based
Prologis on May 12. NBIM paid €155 million ($174.2
million) for the stake in the portfolio, which will now form
part of Prologis European Logistics Partners, an existing
joint venture between NBIM and the U.S. real estate company.
The portfolio comprises eight properties across the U.K.,
France and Poland. Prologis will manage the assets on behalf
of the joint venture.

China has experienced an e-commerce boom in recent years with
the rise of Internet giants such as Alibaba — and
sovereign wealth funds are looking to capitalize on the trend
by investing in warehouses there. This week sovereign wealth
funds from Asia, the Middle East and North America
contributed capital to a new China-focused infrastructure
fund launched by Singapore-listed Global Logistics Properties
(GLP). On Monday, GLP said the unnamed investors had
contributed $3.7 billion in equity to the fund, which will
focus on logistics properties in mainland China. GLP will
hold a 56 percent interest in the venture and is seeking to
raise up to an additional $7 billion over the next few
years.

Singapore's $342 million GIC may be one of the institutions that
allocated capital at the initial fund raising. GIC owns a
stake in GLP and recently teamed up with the firm to buy an
to acquire IndCor Properties, one of the largest industrial
platforms in the U.S., for $8.1 billion from New York-based
Blackstone Group.

Temasek’s Eye for India

Online shopping is a growing trend in India, too. Singapore's
$194 billion Temasek Holdings reinvested $14 million
in Mumbai-based e-commerce firm Just Dial this week,
according to local media reports. Temasek first invested in the
company at its initial public offering in 2013 but sold its
stake soon afterward to cash in on the company's soaring
valuation.

Temasek also agreed to create a new joint venture with
Singapore-based United Overseas Bank (UOB) to provide debt
financing to early-stage companies in China, India and
Southeast Asia. Under the terms of the deal, Temasek will
sell 50 percent of its Mumbai-based subsidiary SVB India
Finance to UOB. The partners will rename SVB as Innoven
Capital and restructure the firm as a joint venture. Both
Temasek and UOB will commit an extra $100 million to the
business over the next five years.

ADIA and GIC in Car-Leasing Deal

GIC and the $621 billion Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA)
are part of a consortium that agreed to buy Almere,
Netherlands-based car-leasing company LeasePlan Corp. for
€3.7 billion ($4 billion). The consortium, which is led
by Dutch public pension fund PGGM and also includes
London-based private equity firm TDR Capital and New
York-based Goldman Sachs Group, negotiated the deal over a
six month period with the sellers, Wolfsburg, Germany-based
Volkswagen AG and Netherlands-based Fleet Investments NV,
after six months of negotiations.

This is the second time that LeasePlan has attracted
sovereign wealth fund interest. In 2004 Abu Dhabi's $60.9
billion Mubadala Development Co. partnered with
VW and Riyadh–based Olayan Group to buy the company
from Dutch bank ABN Amro. VW later bought out its two Middle
Eastern partners.

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